UEL’s new post-graduate programme is seeking to re-frame Psychosocial Studies for the 21st century; bringing together cutting edge perspectives about individuals and their social contexts.
Questions about the nature of the relationship between the individual and our societies have become ever more pressing. Whilst the technological advancement and the spread of wealth have meant vastly improved lives for many, in other ways the 20th century was calamitous. Wars and genocides demonstrated how much ‘civilization’, far from being an obstacle to brutality and cruelty, could multiply their consequences. Whilst globalisation can broaden opportunity and under-standing, it has perhaps done relatively little to decrease conflict, inequality and poverty. As the global banking crisis emphasised, current political solutions seem to struggle to stand up to the strength of individualisation and the force of global markets. Coincident with mounting scepticism about grand political projects there has been growing interest in notions of personal development and fulfilment. Recent decades have seen more people have rising expectations about the emotional satisfaction within their lives. Do such desires and expectations reflect a positive psychosocial shift towards a more tolerant society that allows for emotional vulnerability and the complexities of subjectivity? Or does the rise of psychotherapeutic culture, with its focus on the emotional needs of the individual, have more in common with the superficial quick-fix solutions of consumer culture? How can we begin to make sense of all this? Can simply knowing more about ourselves help us live together? Who are we human beings and what sort of world can we build?
The MA in Psychosocial Studies is a part-time programme taken over 2 years. Two modules are normally taken in the first year (which can lead to the award of a Postgraduate Certificate), another two modules in the second year (which can lead to the award of a Postgraduate Diploma) followed by the 60-credit dissertation for those studying the full MA.
Download the UEL MA Psychosocial Studies Flyer (PDF) or find out more here.